DULUTH — As a self-proclaimed Navy brat, Duluthian Jim Larson grew up in many different places.
But despite his continual movement, Larson said he grew up with a strong sense of home and family thanks in large part to his mother's stories about her relatives.
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"My mom's side has a connection to the Restauration, what's been called the 'Norwegian Mayflower' ship," Larson said. "It was the first organized voyage of Norwegians, and there were only 52 people on it when it left, and some of them were related to me."
Larson had to stay inside a lot due to a congenital heart condition, so his mother shared stories about her family and the settlers who traveled to Minnesota.
"At the time and for a long time I didn't really understand what those stories were," Larson said, "but now I have a huge archive and I'm so glad I have this connection."
Larson said hearing about the stories from his mother and from the two books of family history handed down to him helped him feel a deeper connection to his roots.
Now, he and the Nordic Center are hoping to help inspire others to dig into their family histories and share stories from the past at three events of storytelling, "Emigrant Stories We Carry," starting Saturday, Jan. 18, from 1-4 p.m.
"I just want to hear other people's stories," Larson said. "Almost everyone has some sort of story from their family, and this is a place to share it. It's like an open mic, because we love that format, but it's for sharing family stories."
Nordic Center arts and cultural events coordinator Clif Nesseth said the event correlates with the center's goal to create more programming this year themed around storytelling.
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"We're trying to build a connective tissue with storytelling and immigration and people's background and ancestry," Nesseth said. "And while we are the Nordic Center, we're hoping that this will be a wider net that we can cast, and anybody with a story from any cultural background will be welcome here to share.
"This is an inclusive event where you're welcome to come and share, and we can grow by listening to each other's stories."
Attendees are also welcome to bring an object along, for example, a family heirloom, to aid in their storytelling.
For example, Nesseth said, Duluth writer Bart Sutter traveled to Sweden last fall and visited a church where he has family roots. There, he was given a hymnal that contained notes written in the margins, possibly by his family members.
"Anything that's been handed down, like silverware or plates, spinning wheels, toys," Nesseth said. "Anything that has that sentimental connection for you."
Nesseth said the center plans to make session recordings to build up an archive of people's stories, though people can ask not to be recorded if requested. Nesseth said this is part of the center's effort to capture stories from people before they're lost to time.
"It's kind of sad every time we lose someone like my uncle who was just so full of stories like these and told them over and over again," Nesseth said. "And I was able to record a little bit of it, but I regret not being able to capture more. Every time we lose someone like that, we lose all this wisdom and relevant information that we can use moving forward."
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Participants can sign up in advance by emailing nordiccenterofduluth@gmail.com to talk, but walk-ins will be allowed to sign up on the day of the event. Speakers are asked to keep their stories to about 15 minutes to allow for others to have time to speak.
As for Larson, he plans to speak about the Restauration and his family stories because 2025 is the 200th anniversary of the voyage. Nesseth said the center plans to have more events centered around the Restauration through the year, including a tentative reading of a script Larson found about the 98-day journey of the Restauration from Norway to New York City.
If you go
- What: "Emigrant Stories We Carry"
- When: 1-4 p.m. Jan. 18, Feb. 8, March 8
- Where: Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Ave., Duluth
- More info: nordiccenterduluth.org
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